


Magic's SPECTRE

by ProfessorFrankly



Series: It Might Be Magic [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, SPECTRE (2015), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: AU Compliant, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Spoilers for SPECTRE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-05-01 07:45:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5197895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorFrankly/pseuds/ProfessorFrankly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This piece offers an alternate, behind-the-scenes interpretation of the events of the SPECTRE film in order to make it compliant with the IMBM universe. Bond and Q navigate a mission that could undermine their magical bond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Spectral Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> DO NOT READ yet if you haven't seen SPECTRE; it will make no sense to you.

“Before you go to that funeral, James, you need to know something,” Q said quietly.

James looked up from where he was checking his gun and packing his bag for Italy. “Yes?”

Q slowly moved over to James and crouched between his knees, looking up into ice blue eyes. “I don’t know that there’s magical involvement here, but I do know that this mission is likely to take all of your particular skills.” Q hesitated, and cleared his throat. “All of them.”

James leaned forward and kissed Q’s forehead. “We already discussed this, Q. No unnecessary honeypots.”

“I’m very much afraid that this one will require some very necessary honeypots to be successful,” Q admitted. “Sciarra’s widow, for example, is highly unlikely to be cooperative--unless you factor in that she’s not shared a bed with her husband for years.”

James leaned his head against Q’s. “Harry, darling, you’re my bonded. My mate. My partner in life.”

“And as your partner, knowing what you’re potentially facing here,” Q trailed off, then firmed his lips. “You have my permission to do whatever it takes to come home safely to me. Whatever is necessary to reinforce your position. Lie, cheat, steal, seduce. And come home.”

James sealed the bargain with a kiss.

IMBM

Q opened the door to his hotel room to see James with Madeleine Swann. “007?” he asked softly.

James subtly wiggled fingers, and Q wandlessly stunned Madeleine.

“She knows how to get the information we need to get to Oberholzer,” James said rapidly.

“You’ll need to play along, then,” Q said, pained.

“I don’t think she’ll go for seduction, but …”

“If she’s on the wrong side, James, you might have to allow her to seduce you.”

IMBM

“You’ll never recognize faces again,” Oberholzer cackled.

James kept working on the Omega watch Q had slipped him, trying not to panic at the thought of not recognizing his own bonded when the torture was over, when he felt a pulse of Q’s magic flood him. He grimaced for effect, even as his heart sang with the reinforcement of Q’s love and strength. Channeling his anger, he addressed Madeleine with words meant for Q: “I’ll always recognize you.”

IMBM

James walked away from Madeline’s half-hearted break-up speech to quietly whisper in Q’s ear. “She’s not on our side, is she?”

Q gave a subtle shake of his head. “You might need to prolong this mission to see what her real goals are. But they’re not magical. She doesn’t have a magical signature, so I can’t do anything.”

“The old-fashioned way, it is. Let’s take care of this threat first, shall we?”

IMBM

Q watched his bonded enter the garage, looking for the vehicle with which he was meant to drive off into the sunset with the woman he now could only think of as the Mark. To think otherwise disturbed his magic.

“Q,” James said quietly as he approached.

“Driving off into the sunset, then?” Q asked rudely, then paused. When James said nothing, Q blew out a breath. “I suppose that was unfair.”

“Say the word, darling, and this entire mission is scrapped.” James feathered a hand across Q’s face before running his hand through the messy dark locks of hair. “Nothing is worth risking our bond over.”

“She knows more about SPECTRE,” Q said. “And she’s right--she can disappear so that we’d have a terrible time finding her again. You need to follow through. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Definitely not. And I don’t.” James leaned in and touched his lips to Q’s. “You’re my everything.”

Q sank into the kiss, deepening it. They kissed long minutes, reaffirming their love and bond, before Q drew back. “She’ll be expecting you.”

“Put a tracking charm on me,” James asked huskily. “I want you to find me wherever I go.”

Q channeled a bit of magic right to James’ chest. “Wherever you are. And don’t forget your communication bracelet. Wrap this up, James. Find out what she knows. And come home.”

**  
  
**


	2. The beginnings of a plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q and James figure out an alternate plan.

 

Chapter 1

 

This was ridiculous, James thought, aiming a crooked smile at Madeleine Swann. He was behind the wheel of his beloved Aston Martin (and didn’t that sting, considering how much work Q had put into refinishing it for him), with Madeleine in the passenger seat, cheerfully rambling about the road trip they’d decided to take. A holiday for lovers, newly discovered.

 

A lie. One with the potential to harm his very real, and very permanent, bond with his husband. But a lie deemed essential to uncover other parts of SPECTRE.

 

“Wherever you’d like, darling,” James affirmed, deeming a pause in the ramble a good place to add his opinion.

 

Madeleine batted her eyelashes exaggeratedly. “Well, then, let’s head for le Cote d’Azure. Find a nude beach or two, and build our all-over tans.”

 

James chuckled indulgently. “Sounds like a plan.”

 

IMBM

 

Q’s lip curled up as he listened in on the conversation. “Build our all-over tans?” he mimicked, his voice going high falsetto. “Bitch.”

 

“Do tell us how you really feel, Q,” Eve Moneypenny commented as she strode into his space. “Trouble in paradise?”

 

“Whose paradise?” Q retorted rudely. “Because there most assuredly is trouble. Damn it.”

 

Eve paused, concerned. “I thought you’d worked this out.”

 

Q sighed, and set down the soldering iron he held in one hand, listening with one ear to James’ conversation while he focused the rest of his attention on Eve. “Assured of his affections, yes. Hardly worked out, Eve. Madeleine knows more. This is probably the kindest way to get the information, considering her cooperation to this point. But part of me would rather bring her into one of the interrogation rooms and break her.”

 

Eve opened her mouth, closed it again, then cleared her throat. “Call him back, if it’s that much trouble.”

 

Q quieted. For a long moment, neither spoke, as Q worked out that thought. “I know he’d come back if I asked it.”

 

“So why aren’t you?” Eve hopped up onto the desk adjoining Q’s workspace. “It seems almost cruel to let her think she has a future with James when she clearly does not, all for the sake of getting more information on SPECTRE. And this is a deep, long-term cover if he’s going to use her to get more info.”

 

Q sighed. “How else would we get it? We could sweat her, I suppose, though she’s technically done nothing wrong. Being the daughter of an assassin is not a crime, and she’s been cooperative to a point.”

 

“But James suspects she knows more than she’s telling.”

 

“He does, and I trust him.” Q fiddled with the soldering iron some more. “This would be so much easier if she were magical.”

 

Q’s magic was an open secret among the top echelon at MI6.

 

“How so?” Eve asked.

 

“Because then I could justify the use of Veritaserum, and we could get our answers that way,” Q said glumly. “But she’s not magical, so we need to use non-magical means.”

 

“We could send you in, too,” Eve offered. “Stage a lovers’ quarrel, get her attention, get her on your side against big, bad, James. Might be a shortcut to more information.”

 

Q looked up. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

 

Eve preened. “I do know a bit about the human condition.”

 

Snorting, Q sat back and thought. “Would M sign off on my being gone?”

 

“Q, dear, I’m thinking he’s a bit afraid of what your magic will do should the situation devolve any further.”

 

The grimace on Q’s face told her all she needed to know about that. “I’m surprised he was able to perform, frankly,” he said quietly. “Magic frowns on infidelity.”

 

“He had your permission, though, so I imagine that makes some sort of difference,” Eve observed cautiously.

 

“Is it wrong that I sort of hoped he couldn’t perform with someone other than me?” Q asked plaintively.

 

“Not at all, Q,” Eve soothed.

 

In his ear, Q heard James laugh with Madeleine about needing the loo, and the sounds of them pulling off the road somewhere in France.

 

IMBM

 

James pressed his forehead against the cold tile of the tiny loo attached to the restaurant they’d stopped at for lunch.

 

This was not working.

 

James could feel a strain in his chest every time he smiled at Madeleine, or laughed at a joke, or interacted in some way. While James didn’t have magic of his own, Q’s magic clearly was at play, and it didn’t like the deception they were attempting to perpetuate.

 

He breathed deeply, then pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial for Q.

 

“Yes.” Q’s voice centered him, and immediately, the strain in his chest eased.

 

“Q, darling,” James said hoarsely, “this isn’t working. My chest hurts. And I don’t want to do this anymore.”

 

“Stay where you are.”

 

James closed the phone. Within three minutes, he heard the soft pop that marked his powerful husband’s apparation, and felt Q’s arms around him from behind. “I’m here, James.”

 

The ache in his chest eased even further, and when James turned around and laid his lips on Q’s, it dissipated to a slight ache. Q deepened the kiss, slotting their hips together as they closed the gap between them. Long moments passed before they drew back enough to breathe.

 

“Much, much, better,” James murmured, nuzzling in at Q’s neck.

 

Q swallowed. “Much. I don’t think this is a good idea any more, James.”

 

James made a sound of agreement. “No. But what to do?”

Q kissed the top of James’ head. “I’m going to kidnap you, of course.”

 

James leaned back to look into emerald eyes. “When? And why?”

 

“Oh, I’d say in the next day or so, and to stir up suspicion on Madeleine’s part. With luck, she’ll lead us right to the other players in SPECTRE while she’s looking for you.” Q batted those eyes at James. “What do you think?”

 

“I think it’s brilliant,” James said honestly. “Who will do the kidnapping?”

 

“I think I’ll pop into your hotel room in the dead of night and kidnap you straight out of your bed with a bit of apparation,” Q mused. “I’ll leave a SPECTRE calling card behind.” He looked sternly at his spouse. “Do not let yourself be kidnapped by anyone else, if you please.”

 

James lunged forward and devoured Q’s mouth with his, running his hands down Q’s sides to grip his arse tightly. Caught off guard slightly, Q could only melt into James’ arms, allowing himself to be caught up in the moment. Their bond hummed as they kissed, hands roaming, until James drew back, panting. “Do we have time for …”

 

“Give me your hand,” Q panted back. Wordlessly and wandlessly Q opened their trousers with one hand, then with a thought, added lube to James’ hand. James took both their cocks in his brawny palm and stroked them together, quickly and roughly, as Q just leaned into his neck and felt. It took no time at all for the pair to reach completion, and Q just held on for a moment.

 

James soothed his husband by rubbing his magically clean hands over Q’s back. “We’ll be alright,” he whispered.

 

“I know we will, James,” Q replied softly, nuzzling in at the juncture of James’ neck and shoulder. “I love you.”

 

“I love you, too.”

 

IMBM

 

Madeleine pouted as James finally reached their table. “What took you so long?”

 

“Must have had some bad fruit with brekkie,” James said glibly.

 

She leaned forward and took his hand. “Do you want to stop for the night? We could find a hotel nearby. It’s not like we’re on a schedule.”

 

“Would you mind?” James asked. “I could do with a rest. I’m not feeling at all well.”

 

“Of course not.” Madeleine smiled. “Let’s find a place to stay.”

  
Perfect, James thought.


	3. The Kidnapping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which James escapes Madeleine's company, and a few truths are told.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lengthy delay in getting this out. Writing during the academic year is very nearly impossible. My summer goal is five pages a day--and that includes all the nonfiction work I need to do professionally. This will be slotted in as I need a break from the rest. Enjoy!

**Chapter 2: The Kidnapping**

 

James feigned sleep as Madeleine exited the bathroom attached to the small room they’d found to let for the night. He listened as she quietly put her jewelry case in her overnight bag and padded, barefoot, to the double bed in which he lay. He endured as she trailed a hand over his forehead, likely checking for fever, before she slipped into bed beside him.

 

“James,” she breathed out quietly. “Whatever would I do without you, now?”

 

He barely withheld from speaking as she cuddled into him to fall asleep. Long moments passed as Madeleine’s breathing slowed to a regular, deep and even pattern that meant true sleep. James waited, impatient and still, for his partner to show up.

 

A flash of red light from his right illuminated Madeleine’s form as she went completely still.

 

“That ought to do it,” Q said quietly as moved from the shadow in the corner on that side to look down on James.

 

“Stunned?” James guessed in a low tone.

 

Q nodded. “It will keep her out until morning. She won’t know what happened.”

 

James slid out from under the stunned woman’s form, stood, and pulled Q in for a hug. “I need you,” he said hoarsely.

 

Q kissed James’ temple as he returned the squeeze. “You have me. Just have to do a few things first.” He squeezed one more time, then slipped out of James’ hold to toss through James’ luggage, as if he were looking for something, and pull out anything vital that James needed to keep. He then tossed a coin bearing the symbol for SPECTRE onto the center of the bed where James had lain, then took James by the hand. “Let’s go, love.” 

 

James nodded, tucking Q close as they turned on the spot and vanished with a quiet pop.

 

IMBM

 

They reappeared in their own flat. James relaxed his hold a bit and Q backed away, heading for the kitchen.

“Cuppa?” he asked as he went.

 

“Please,” James affirmed, watching him go. Q’s posture was a bit stiff, and James knew they’d have more to sort before they would be totally in tune again.

 

Q measured out loose tea, set the kettle to boil, and set out a teapot. He went through the ritual of brewing a proper cup of tea as if he was preparing it for landed company, and James’ heart broke a little as he realized that his Harry was masking his true emotions and using the ritual to settle himself while doing so.

 

“Harry,” James whispered. “I’m sorry.”

 

Harry stilled for a moment, then continued, pouring boiling water into the pot over the loose tea in its strainer. “You were doing your job. You had my permission to use your body if you needed to,” he reminded them both. Then he took a deep breath. “I didn’t anticipate how much it would hurt. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

 

The men remained silent for a moment as Harry timed the steeping of the tea, plated biscuits, then removed the strainer. James sat at their small table, and Harry joined him with the pot and the plate. “I’ll pour,” Harry murmured, and they sat, each with a cuppa, the plate of biscuits between them almost an afterthought.

 

James didn’t know quite what to do with this silence that had sprung up suddenly. He sipped his tea slowly, watching his partner do the same. He couldn’t think of anything more he could say to bridge the gap. Being with Madeleine had been painful in a way that he’d never experienced before, and he was certain it had almost nothing to do with magic or their bond, and everything to do with his love for Harry. 

 

Harry took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want to be angry with you,” he said quietly. “We both did what needed to be done in this case, and I figured out a way to get you out of Madeleine’s hands so that we could move forward.” He sighed. “But I’m trying to get past how easy it seemed for you to be physical with two women on this mission. And I know--I KNOW--that I want you do anything possible to get home to me alive. But. But. James.”

 

James reached out slowly, gently pulled Harry’s hands off of his face, and held them in his own, looking into Harry’s red-rimmed green eyes. “There wasn’t anything easy about it, Harry,” he said simply. “It was necessary for the mission. And I felt like a whore. And it was the most painful thing I’ve ever done--and I don’t think that had anything to do with the magical bond.”

 

“You’re not a whore,” Harry retorted vehemently. 

 

“But I felt like one, Harry,” James said painfully. “There’s always been an element of that in this job--doing whatever’s necessary to the mission. Using my guns, my wits, my body. Whatever. Is. Necessary.” He swallowed, hard. “I just don’t think that I can do that anymore. I don’t want to. I want to save my body for you.”

 

Harry sobbed harshly and pitched himself into James’ arms, which wrapped around him tightly. 

 

Long moments passed for James and Harry as they held each other closely, and if they cried a few cleansing tears, only they knew about it.

 

IMBM

 

“Well, George, that’s a first,” Ron observed as he catalogued Alec Travelyan’s response to the Puking Pastilles. “I’ve not seen vomit in quite that shade before.”

 

“Right you are, Ron,” George noted, writing something on a clipboard. “Do you suppose it’s the borscht he had for lunch?”

 

“Piss off,” Alec gasped out, before retching again.

 

“Yes, let’s make sure he’s got the antidote then,” Ron said briskly, handing out the other end of the candy for Alec to force down his throat when the bout was over.

 

The trio were working on ways to adapt some of the WWW products for use in espionage. An on-the-spot debilitating illness seemed just the thing for some kinds of distractions, and Alec was testing out the Skiving Snackboxes to consider their utility for the field.

 

Alec forced the antidote down and sat up. “I don’t know about that one. You really need to be able to move--this seems too debilitating for true usefulness. What’s next?”

 

“Nosebleed Nougats!” Ron and George exclaimed together.

 

“Joy,” Alec said sourly. “Can I get a glass of water first?”


	4. Making up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry and James make up. NSFW

**Chapter 3:**

  
  


Harry sank into James’ embrace on their big bed, resting his head against James’ shoulder. 

 

“Tired?” James asked quietly.

 

“A bit,” Harry replied. “We’ll have an early day tomorrow, too.”

 

The bond between them was quiet, stable. Harry half thought they ought to be ripping each other’s clothes off by now, but it seemed the bond was content with their shared closeness.

 

James’ arms tightened around him, and he placed a gentle kiss against the top of Harry’s head. “We don’t have to get physical tonight, Harry, if you don’t want to. I want you, very much, but I’d understand if … you can’t.”

 

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know what I want, James. This is good for now.” He was quiet for a moment, thinking, then added, “I think true intimacy is hard for me, sometimes. I think sex is a quick fix--like getting off with you earlier satisfied the bond because it was an intimate act--but trust...that’s a bit harder, honestly.”

 

James hummed in assent. “Trust is necessary to true intimacy,” he acknowledged. “I’ve rarely had that. In the past, I’ve had to divorce my sense of self from the intimacy of the act. With you, that’s never been an issue. I trust you, Harry, with my heart.” James swallowed. “I’m sorry that my actions, however excusable and permitted, caused you to lose that trust in me.”

 

Harry turned his face into James’ neck. “I just need you to be here with me, now. I need to know you’re here. That you’re not going anywhere. That … I’m still who you want.”

 

James rolled them both over so that he was above Harry, and carefully lay down on top of him, pressing their bodies together and blanketing Harry completely. Gently, he brushed messy black hair away from Harry’s face, and began to press light, fluttery kisses over his forehead. “I love your hair,” James began, speaking quietly as lips moved from forehead to ear. “I love these ears. I love this brain--” a lingering kiss right the middle of Harry’s forehead -- “and I adore these beautiful green eyes.” Light kisses dotted eyelids that had quickly closed. “I love your nose” -- kiss, followed by small giggle from Harry -- “I love your jaw” -- he lingered a bit, leaving open-mouthed kisses down the strong jaw line until he reached Harry’s chin. “Hmmm, but these lips …” James tasted them, then leaned back to look Harry in the eye. “I can’t get enough of these. You taste like the best of all my favorite flavors.”

 

He leaned back in and kissed Harry hard, on the mouth. “I love every beautiful bit of you, and I’d like very much to show you,” he said quietly. “May I?”

 

Harry smiled serenely. “Yes.”

 

James smiled back, and resumed his work, laying kisses down Harry’s neck, sucking briefly on his Adam’s apple, then unbuttoning his work shirt, laying kisses on each bit of skin that was revealed. He worked slowly, hands working to divest Harry of his clothing while his mouth continued its relentless tasting. 

 

Harry seemed to melt into the mattress as his husband showed him just how very much he was loved, and wanted. Time began to lose all meaning as skin was bared, and his flesh was suckled. The curve of his ribs, just under his pectoral muscles. The crease of his skin just at the juncture of hip and thigh. The back of his knee. 

 

By the time James came back around to Harry’s now-naked, hard, leaking cock, Harry was panting with need. “James, please. Please. In me.”

 

“As you wish, love,” James murmured, as he raised himself up enough to divest himself of his own clothing, then reached for the lube they kept in the nightstand next to their bed. He also picked up a condom, not wanting to risk anything until he had a clean bill of health from medical. Slicking his fingers, he gently pressed against Harry’s entrance, rubbing gently before slipping a finger in. He made quick work of the prep, sheathed himself in a condom, then picked up Harry’s hips and slid inside his husband.

 

They both sighed. James leaned forward enough to catch Harry’s lips with his, and began to thrust, slowly. “I’d never made love to anyone before I first made love to you,” he confessed. “You, us, this”--he thrust hard and deep to a shocked and pleasurable grunt from Harry-- “I’ve never had this with anyone but you.” 

 

Harry surged up under him and flipped James to his back, then began riding his husband with intent, taking him in as deeply as he could go, hissing against the drag of James’ cock against his prostate. “James,” Harry gasped out. “I love you so much, James.”

 

Light sparked from Harry’s body, as magic surged over his skin and reached out for James, who grasped both of Harry’s hands and drew them over his own head, lacing their fingers together, ice blue eyes intent on Harry’s own, letting himself be ridden, trying to hold back his orgasm long enough for Harry to reach his peak.

 

And then, Harry shattered, his magic singing around him as the orgasm rolled through him, taking James along for the ride as he, too, reached his peak.

 

Magic held Harry up for a long moment before the light filtered down, slowly, and Harry collapsed against James’ chest.

 

“Never again,” James promised firmly and quietly. “I will never again have sex with another person, as long as you live.” Light flashed between them again briefly, as magic accepted his promise.

 

Harry pressed a kiss against a well-developed pectoral muscle, and hummed. “So mote it be.”

 

IMBM

 

“It’s getting late, folks,” George pointed out. “Time for pranksters to head home.”

 

“Aw,” Ron and Alec said in unison, then laughed at each other.

 

“What are we, twelve?” Alec rolled his eyes as he asked.

 

Ron laughed, too. “Nah, didn’t have this much fun at twelve. Too worried about a monster in the halls at school.”

 

“Really?” Alec quirked an eyebrow.

 

“Oh, yes,” George said blithely. “But Harry killed it.”

 

“Our Harry? Q?”

 

“With a bloody big sword,” Ron confirmed. 

 

Alec sat back. “You all have had some adventures together, haven’t you?”

 

“You could say that,” George said, “as long as by adventure, you mean, ‘war and death defying experiences’.”

 

“Yeah, that,” Ron agreed. “The wizarding war was no picnic.” Ron hesitated, and looked at George, who gave him an oblique nod. “George lost an ear, and we all lost our brother, George’s twin, Fred.”

 

“You lost a twin, George?” Alec asked sympathetically. “That’s very rough. I’m sorry for your loss.”

 

George shrugged. “Sometimes I hear him in my head when we’re pranking, or inventing new things, offering ideas. It’s hard, sometimes.” He took a deep breath. “But he would want us to live and prank on, so we do.”

 

Alec acknowledged this with a nod and smile. “To pranking!” He looked around a bit. “Wait, that needed a shot of something.”

 

“Drink?” Ron asked. 

 

“Let’s.” George agreed.

 

“We’re off,” Alec said, firmly, and steered them out of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes to the nearby pub.

  
  



	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are awakenings.

An alarm sounded in the privacy of James and Harry’s bedroom, and James stifled the automatic oath as Harry flicked fingers at the device to silence it.

 

“It’s 5 a.m.,” James groaned. “Why on earth are we waking at 5 a.m.?”

 

Harry’s eyes remained closed as he mumbled into his pillow. “Surveillance on Madeleine. She should be waking soon, and I wanna see.”

 

James registered the remark, then smirked. “Darling, you do have a vicious streak, don’t you?”

 

“You love me for it,” Harry mumbled some more, then sighed and turned over, opening tired green eyes. “Plus, in her rant at your disappearance, she might say something useful.”

 

“True,” James acknowledged, and stroked gentle fingers across Harry’s forehead, moving messy hair out of his eyes. “Shall we make our way into the office, then?”

 

Harry smirked. “Sure.” He then caught James’ wrist and rolled them over. “In a minute.” 

 

IMBM

 

Mutual blow-jobs remained the best way to start the day, ever, James mused as they appeared in their usual apparation closet. 

 

“I quite agree,” Harry said calmly as he pushed the door open.

 

“I didn’t say that out loud,” James observed.

 

Harry grinned at him, adjusted his glasses, and in a moment, assumed his role as Q. “You didn’t have to, 007.”

 

In tune with each other, the couple turned toward Q’s office and screens there, one of which was already set to pull audio and video from Madeleine’s hotel room. “When did you set up video?” James asked. “I only saw you briefly before we left.”

 

Q shrugged. “I was there, just disillusioned, for a bit longer. She’s got a tracker on her, and audio feed from the bug I placed in her mobile while she was in the shower. The video is set up for the room. The owner had a camera there already--and yes, he’ll be getting a raid, he’s apparently been filming his guests for years--but I hijacked it for us.”

 

They turned to the main screen in Q’s office, watching as Madeleine grunted in her sleep.

“That’ll be the stunner wearing off,” Q said helpfully. “She may go into a natural sleep at this point, or she may wake.”

 

“Good timing,” James commented.

 

Q shrugged. “I know about how long my stunners last if left to their own devices.”

 

They watched a moment more as Madeleine turned over and threw a hand into the space left by James. She patted the bed for a moment, then her eyes slotted open. “James?” she murmured quietly.

 

Of course, no one answered her, and her eyes opened a bit more, taking in the empty space and looking automatically toward the bathroom, from which there was no light. Madeleine sat up slowly, looking around the room for a moment before looking back at the bed, and finally seeing the SPECTRE medallion.

 

Her shriek was music to Q’s ears, and he grinned widely as she seized the medallion and started swearing viciously. 

 

“Those utter bastards!” she yelled. “He was supposed to be MINE!!”

 

“Ah, and there we have confession of collusion, at any rate,” James observed.

 

“Yes, she knows someone, evidently,” Q agreed.

 

They watched as Madeleine lunged for her purse and grabbed the bugged phone, tapping in a number. 

 

“Thank you so much,” Q said ironically as the number scrolled across the bottom of his screen. He copied them to a different program to run down the number’s owner while they listened to Madeleine bitch at the man who picked up.

 

“How dare you!!” Madeleine shrieked. “You told me if I turned over Oberhouser, I could have James! And now he’s gone! You utter bastards!”

 

James hummed. “She needs to learn some new phrases.”

 

“Quite,” Q murmured. “Well, look at that.”

 

“Registered to a security firm in Switzerland. Interesting,” James said. On screen, Madeleine continued her tirade without pause for breath or conversation. “Wow,” James observed. “She’s really a shrew.”

 

“Glad you’re well shut of that one, dear,” Q commented. “Let him talk, Ms. Swann, I need a voice print.”

 

Madeleine stopped, heaving for breath as the man on the other end of the line tried to placate her.

 

“Oh, you are cooperating nicely, aren’t you?” Q crooned. “There’s a voiceprint. I’ll run it against the ones we have in our system, but meanwhile, it’s recorded for posterity.” He tapped a few keys and the voice on the other end of the line streamed through the audio feed, too.

 

“Get a hold of yourself, Ms. Swann,” the man soothed. His smooth tenor had a faintly French accent. “We are not responsible if your man is missing. It’s your job to keep him in line, if you’ll recall.”

 

“My job to keep him in line?” Madeleine seethed. “We were supposed to be left in peace.”

 

“Only as long as we wished you to be,” the tenor voice responded. “And look, now you’ve lost him. Seems your peace was shorter than you thought.”

 

“Don’t play games with me!” she shrieked. “You took him! I want him back!”

 

“Well, I didn’t take him,” the tenor voice started to sound irritated. “If you can’t keep him interested …”

 

“I have a SPECTRE medallion in my hand, Bertrand,” Madeleine said coldly.

 

“Really?” Bertrand, the tenor voice, queried. “I didn’t authorize a grab. Though I might have, just to spare him your whines.”

 

Q started a search for “Bertrand” at the Swiss security firm. As the pair’s argument played out and was recorded, Q’s system identified Bertrand as the firm’s owner. He pulled up a photo and public record information for the new case file as he continued to listen.

 

“I think you need to quiet,” Bertand said firmly. “I didn’t authorize his kidnapping. I can’t explain the medallion. I will need to do some quiet investigating on this end. You’re certain he didn’t leave of his own volition?”

 

Madeleine sank onto the bed, looking around to find James’ bag right where he’d left it. “I’ll have to check the parking lot for the car, but it certainly looks as though he was taken. Very, very quietly.”

 

“We’ll find out what happened to him, ma petite,” Bertrand said soothingly. “Why don’t you come here and we’ll work on it together?”

“Don’t placate me, Bertrand,” she snapped back.

 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, ma petite,” he replied smoothly.

 

Madeleine inhaled once, deeply, then exhaled, slowly. “I’m on my way.”

 

The pair disconnected, and James turned to Q, who was already ruthlessly digging through records and pulling up data. “Anything useful?”

 

Q grinned maliciously. “I do believe we’ve got a lynchpin for SPECTRE, dear.”

 

“Lovely, darling.”


	6. It's over.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we have an ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've completely lost the plot with this story--which is what happens when I write in response to something rather than plotting out in advance. I've tied up the largest loose ends here, and while I may revisit this world in the future, consider these chapters closed.

Chapter 5

 

For the next week, Q monitored the feeds from Madeleine’s trackers himself while plans were laid to infiltrate the security firm in Switzerland that appeared to be a key business in SPECTRE as an organization.

 

James guided the interrogation of Oberhouser, though he remained behind the two-way glass, firmly believing that seeing James would make his former foster-brother clam up. As James put it, MI6 wanted solid information, not taunts and “maybes.”

 

The couple spent their days working, and their nights making love, re-solidifying their bonds.

 

M was not happy at James’ decision to eliminate all honey pots or the possibility of them. Essentially, he was losing one of his best agents. James told him, in not quite so many words, to deal with it--and offered to retire his double-oh status to assume a training role. M decided to consider it.

 

And Alec, George and Ron continued to work through the products at WWW to see what might be of use in the field.

 

Nothing significant happened that week.

 

But as Q pointed out, surveillance was largely boring.

 

IMBM

 

Q stared at his monitor in shock. Madeline had blown up the Swiss headquarters of SPECTRE.

 

“Wow,” he muttered. “I know James is an awesome lover, but seriously? What am I missing?”

 

He tapped out a series of texts to arrange a conference room. Securing one for an hour out, Q invited all the main players in the discussion to the meeting, then sat back to review the audio from Madeline’s tracker.

 

At the meeting, with James and M, Q played a snippet of audio.

 

_“I bloody KNOW you took him!” Madeline ranged at Bertrand. “And unless you produce him right now, I will blow up this bloody building!”_

 

_“Ma petite, we have nothing. WE don’t have your James,” Bertrand said tiredly. “Your threats are fruitless.”_

They heard a crash, as if Madeline had thrown something breakable into a wall.

 

_“That’s it!” She screamed it. “If I can’t have him, none of you can!”_

 

They heard a boom, and then silence.

 

“Obsessed?” M asked. “What’s the fallout here, Q?”

 

“I confirmed the explosion. She remote-detonated a large amount of C4 directly under the building. We’ll have to through the rest of the audio, but it appears she used a different cell, one not bugged, to arrange for help--or she did it herself,” Q said. “I recommend letting Swiss authorities handle the investigation. With everything gone there, our search for SPECTRE’s main players is at a dead end. Literally.”

 

“Was she really there, though, Q?” James asked. “Could she have staged that confrontation?”

 

Q shook his head. “Video cameras have her entering the building ten minutes before explosion. Audio has her bullying her way up to Bertrand’s office before scene you just heard. That building is gone.”

 

James sat back, a bit stunned and let down. “So it’s over.”

 

Q nodded. “For now. One never knows with organizations like this, but without three of their key players--and who knows how much of their logistics--gone, we can breathe a little easier.”

 

M cleared his throat. “Well, then. Back to silent listening for chatter on SPECTRE in the interim.” He paused, then looked at them both. “Well done, gentlemen. I apologize for the strain this particular assignment caused you. And Bond, I accept your resignation from 00 status. We’ll have to carve out a new role for you.”  
“Looking forward to it,” James said.

 

IMBM

 

“So …” Q/Harry said, sidling up to his lover in the break room.

 

“Yes?” James asked, amused.

 

“How opposed are you to workplace sexual shenanigans?”

 

**THE END**


End file.
